We are seeking a new Chair of Trustees to lead our Board as we build on our 2020 Strategy.
We are seeking a new Chair of Trustees
Read how we are celebrating
Wow, wow, wow… A massive thank you to Lydia and Guy who braved a Skydive to fund raise for us. The duo managed to raise a whooping £1200!! Thank you both so very much. 
Say hello to Richie England! This legend is cycling 50 miles each day for 50 days… a WHOOPING total distance of 2500 miles to raise funds for us, the RMA, Rock To Recover and the Association of Royal Navy Officers ARNO & Royal Navy Officers’ Charity RNOC.
We wish Richie all the very best in his mammoth venture and look forward to regular updates.
If you’d like to sponsor Richie, then please head here 
https://www.justgiving.com/…/richard-england-1722263249677
The Naval Children’s Charity are thrilled to be launching ‘Doing Distance’ – a psychological toolkit for armed forces children, to help them navigate the challenges that come with service life, particularly around separation and mobility.
Whether you are a parent of a military child, or a supporting adult from their school or local community, this new psychological toolkit has been specially designed to help support your armed forces children. This toolkit has been compiled with the help from the team at ‘Bear Us In Mind’, a group with over 30 years’ experience working directly with families around separation and loss.
The Naval Children’s Charity’s aim is for these resources to help military children and their supporting adults to navigate the highs and lows of service life. These tools will help with the processing of the challenges experienced by children and young people and enable them hold on to special memories. All these resources will be available to download for free.
Clare Scherer MBE, from the Naval Children’s Charity, said:
”We could not be more grateful to Julie Stokes and the Bear Us In Mind team for their generosity in allowing us to adapt and use this amazing toolkit. We really think it will bring help and support to lots of our families as they deal with some of the challenges that come with life as a service family.”
The ‘Doing Distance’ toolkit can be found here.
The MOD through their Armed Forces Families Fund (AF3) have launched a new Service Pupil Support Programme through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. Specifically supporting Service pupils aged 4-18 years, this programme will focus on those pupils from currently serving families and will support them along their educational pathways.
Schools, academies sixth form colleges, Further Education colleges and local authorities can apply. Full eligibility details are available at https://covenantfund.org.uk/programme/the-service-pupil-support-programme/
The programme will award grants of £5,000 to £80,000 to one-year projects that meet one of three priorities.
Your project idea should offer good value for money. This funding is for stand alone, one-year projects. The AFCFT would anticipate that most grants awarded will be around £40,000 or less.
Sonia Howe, Director of Policy and Communications at the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, said: “This programme offers opportunities to access funding for both schools who have large numbers of Service pupils on role, and also those with small numbers. By working together as clusters of schools, those Service pupils based in less military heavy areas can also benefit.”
There are lots of useful resources to our website to help you get started with your application.
The application deadline is 5pm on 31 May 2023 and they’ll expect successful projects to begin from September 2023 in line with the new academic year.
The Naval Children’s Charity are delighted to have been awarded a grant by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for their ‘Thriving through Childhood and Beyond’ project, which will be delivered in partnership with The Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance to bring tri-Service benefits for all Armed Forces families with children in early years education or higher education.
It builds on the Alliance’s earlier work which developed the Thriving Lives Toolkit; widely used to support improved educational outcomes for Service Pupils in primary and secondary education. It will develop and share further toolkits for younger and older age groups; and ensure wide reach throughout the UK. It will develop a coherent quality standard for the entire sector and create a rigorous evidence base for police and practice development.
Clare Scherer, Chief Executive of the Charity said: ‘We are deeply grateful to the AFCFT for their support of this important work. For children whose parents have made the choice to serve in the Armed Forces there can be a number of challenges. It is vitally important that we find ways to support them and extending the SCiP Alliance’s Thriving Lives Toolkit to those all-important early years and into further and higher education will strengthen that support significantly.
We would like to say a huge thank you to Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth for choosing to
support us this year. Their donation will make a big difference to the children and young
people we help, particularly at a time where rising food, fuel and energy costs are putting
even more of a strain on vulnerable families. Thanks to their help we can deliver tailored
support quickly and where it is most needed to help prevent many families from falling further
into crisis.
“Stowe Family Law are proud to support the Naval Children’s Charity with a donation to help
support children and young people in need. We would wholeheartedly encourage other local
businesses to get involved and contribute in any way possible.” – Stowe Family Law
Portsmouth
About Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth
Stowe Family Law in Portsmouth are an experienced team of divorce lawyers and accountants
with a strong record of achieving success for clients across Hampshire. Their family law
solicitors provide an excellent service in order to resolve disputes, meaning you can put your
complete confidence in their family law team.
1926-2022
The Naval Children’s Charity are deeply saddened by the death of HM The Queen. She first became our Patron as a princess and we were honoured to have her as our Patron for some 75 years. She was an inspiration to us all, steadfast and loyal, dedicated to her people. All those connected to the Royal Navy are proud to have served her. Our heartfelt condolences to her family and the Nation.
In 1945, the then Princess Elizabeth, became Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marine’s Children’s Trust. Her Majesty held the position for over 70 years, and has always been a fierce champion for Naval families.
This continued the Royal Family’s years of service to the Royal Navy. Her Majesty’s grandfather, George V, served for 15 years, while her father, George VI was stationed at HMS Collingworth during the First World War.
During the course of her patronage, Her Majesty’s fierce support for the children in our community allowed us to deliver so much, and brought with it some brilliant celebratory moments for Naval children.
In 2009, we were delighted to host a royal reception at St James’ Palace attended by Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, where they met many of our beneficiaries and supporters.
To celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, Naval children stitched together a very special present: a quilt made of crowns.
In 2016, we were honoured to take part in another of Her Majesty’s landmark celebrations: her 90th birthday. Representatives of the Naval Children’s Charity were invited to a reception of Her Majesty’s charities in The Mall. Later that year, she would step down from her official role as patron.
On behalf of the Naval Children’s Charity, I would like to thank Her Majesty for a lifetime of unwavering support for our cause and the Royal Navy at large. May she rest in peace.
Best wishes,
Clare Scherer, CEO of the Naval Children’s Charity
While we view ourselves as a truly national charity, the reality of supporting Naval families means a lot of our efforts take place in a few key locations.
The concentration of Royal Navy personnel in cities such as Plymouth in the south west, and Glasgow and Dundee in Scotland means we have to target our support far and wide, but also within tight-knit communities.
One way we can make a real difference in these communities is by partnering with local businesses to deliver ongoing support and grow our profile.
A lot of our support is delivered near our headquarters in Portsmouth, a city synonymous with seafaring, and home to many currently serving and veteran personnel.
Earlier this year, the NCC entered into a partnership with Sirius Analysis, an analytics consultancy also based on the Hampshire coast.
“We wanted to help an organisation that was closer to home, and decided a charity based in the Southern Hampshire region was the best bet,” says Carl Dalton, managing director at Sirius Analysis.
“Being based in Portsmouth synergises well with our staff and enables easy interaction with fundraising and volunteering.”
As well as picking a nearby cause, Sirius also wanted to check off two further criteria. They wanted a charity that helped children, and was relevant to their work.
“The majority of Sirius’ directors and staff have a history of working in the defence sector, and it has become a part of our identity,” says Dalton.
“The Royal Navy is close to the hearts of many at Sirius, with the team having served directly, or supported in some way.
“As the NCC is all about supporting children in need, it readily ticked that criteria. We were all very moved by the work the charity does, and we’re eager to help in any way we can.”
Sirius will provide ongoing financial support, raising money for the NCC throughout the year. They will offer pro bono admin, helping the charity maximise its time in delivering vital support to Naval families and also volunteer support at events attended by the NCC around the UK.
NCC CEO Clare Scherer said: “We could not be more thrilled to have been chosen by Sirius Analytics as their charity to support.
“Financially, the money they raise will all go to our children that need our help and the fact that they also are going to volunteer with us to enable us to improve and develop our delivery of support is an added bonus.
“We are a small team that delivers a lot so any extra funding or help makes a real difference to the help we can give our children.”
If you would like to enquire about supporting the Naval Children’s Charity, please contact our CEO Clare Scherer via email. ceo@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk
About Sirius Analysis
Sirius Analysis specialises in the delivery of analysis to enable its customers to make informed investment decisions and deliver effective projects, using its core skills in Operational Research, Cost Analysis and Systems Engineering. Firmly focused on the expertise, reputation and track records of our directors and staff, the services we provide are ably supported by a diverse network of highly experienced, known and trusted associates.
Earlier this year we held our First Annual Meeting as the Naval Children’s Charity and launched our new brand. Several of our families that had received support from us in the past travelled up to join us and shared their stories with those present. We are hugely grateful to them for this and will be sharing the videos of their stories with you all shortly. The Chairman, Alistair Sheppard, and the Chief Executive, Clare Scherer, gave those present an overview of the origins of the charity and our plans for the future.
Our thanks go to Trinity House for the use of their beautiful building, Chamberlain’s of London for the delicious food and Farr Vinters for the champagne. If you would like to know more about us please do get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
We have been supporting Naval children since 1825, nearly 200 years, when the first orphanages were opened in Portsmouth and Chatham and then as the needs of our children have evolved and developed over the years we have changed and evolved and developed into the Charity we are today. We hope that we are going to continue to develop and make impact into our children’s lives as we go forward. Families come to us for help and we respond quickly and with compassion to their unique challenges so that we can deliver what they need.
If you think we could help you please do get in touch either by using the form on the website or by contacting us directly by email caseworkers@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk or by phone 023 9263 9534
We have created a short video with highlights from our Annual Meeting at Trinity House, March 2020. Click to watch.
